Lawsuits Encouraged to Limit L.A. Housing Supply: Defiant board head urges suit on new housing rule

The L.A. Daily News reports:

In a rare move by a mayoral appointee, a Los Angeles planning official has offered community activists a strategy to sue the city over a new rule that allows developers to build taller, bulkier buildings - with fewer parking spaces - as long as they include affordable units.

Planning Commission President Jane Ellison Usher, who was handpicked by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to sit on the commission, alerted activists in an e-mail Sunday just a month after the Los Angeles City Council adopted the controversial density-bonus policy.

In the e-mail, Usher said the ordinance raises issues that are "ripe for immediate litigation."

It is unusual for a political appointee to criticize a decision by elected leaders, and even more unusual to advise community leaders and others on how to fight City Hall.

But Usher has been an outspoken critic of the density-bonus law and said she is concerned about the lack of transparency in passing the ordinance.

The law, she said, conflicts with the mayor's "smart growth" vision and instead allows large, bulky development on residential sites that have no transit or jobs nearby.

When you see the phrase "smart growth" think of limiting the supply of housing through government regulation.